John Maginnis is a syndicated columnist who reports about Louisiana politics. Send mail to him in care of Political Review, P.O. Box 6, Baton Rouge LA 70821. His website is LaPolitics.com.

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John Maginnis
Columnist

Next month, a federal judge will decide whether the historic, mammoth lawsuit against 97 oil companies for damage to coastal marshes will proceed in state court or be moved to U.S. District Court, as sought by one of the defendants, Chevron. Big corporations tend to think they will fare better in a federal system of appointed judges than before an elected state judiciary. Federal court can be no picnic, though, which BP is learning in its Gulf oil-spill trial, now in the penalty phase, before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.